Turkish exchange student sexually assaulted in Vienna

VIENNA

A Turkish exchange student was reportedly raped by three Afghan refugees in a train station in the Austrian capital Vienna on April 22, according to the Austrian press. 

The 21-year-old woman had reportedly been followed into a bathroom at the Praterstern train station and assaulted by three assailants aged 16-17. She was later discovered by a friend injured and laying on the ground. 

The three men, who were captured shortly after the incident, reportedly said they were “severely intoxicated” and “did not remember anything,” as one of them later pleaded guilty. 

The attack took place some five months after mass sexual harassment incidents occurred in Germany’s Cologne during New Year’s Eve celebrations, which added to the Europe’s growing concern over the integration of refugees flowing into the continent mostly from Middle Eastern countries. 

Recently, a key suspect in the New Year’s Eve mass sexual assaults in Cologne was spotted shoplifting in southern Germany and arrested across the border in Switzerland, authorities said on April 28.

The Cologne attacks, committed in a crowd of mostly North African men, shocked Germany and heightened public concern about the influx of migrants.